Desecration
by whylime
Summary: Dark little fic about how far hatred against mutants can go. How will the X-team handle recruiting a new mutant after they are too late to stop an instance of anti-mutant violence. 7 chapters total, finally complete after all these years.
1. Finding Julia

**A/N: I wrote this one when I was in a down mood so it's pretty dark and not much else. I used an OC since the part didn't really seem to fit any existing characters, don't waste your time flaming me about the lame OC, I'm aware. I desided to break it into chapters, but the story is already 80 percent written so I should have the whole thing up within a few days.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or ideas involved in X-Men Evolution. I did create the character of Julia, but I'm not planning to use her in the future, so feel free to use her in your own stories as you see fit (poor girl even her own author is throwing her out to market).**

**Desecration**

Jean pulled the X-Van up in front of a seedy looking bar, wondering for the hundredth time, what she was doing searching the ugly side of New York City for a girl who could be anywhere. It was two o'clock in the morning; she was tired and ready to give up. "I know the X-Men exist to help out other mutants, but I can't believe the professor sent us on a wild goose chase, I mean new mutants are popping up on Cerebro everyday and we're not even currently recruiting. This girl must be in a whole lot of trouble, I hope we find her soon." she thought to her self. She looked back at the door to the bar thinking "How long does it take..." but she didn't finish her thought since at that moment Wolverine and Cyclops exited and headed for the van.

"Nothing?" she guessed from the looks on their faces.

"Zip." Wolverine confirmed, "She definitely wasn't in there and no one has seen anything suspicious, not that they would tell us if they had."

"Alright, we'll just continue our sweeping vector." said Cyclops taking command, "Jean you stay in the van and cover the next five by five block area scanning with your mind. Wolverine you and I will go on foot looking for hiding places, remember she may be unconscious."

"Right." Logan growled, clearly not enjoying taking orders from a kid.

"Ok, the sooner we find her the sooner we can go home" said Jean as she headed off in the van. Cyclops started down the street across from the bar. Wolverine, using his extra sensitive sense of smell, sniffed the air and decided to investigate the alley that went next to and behind the bar, even though that wasn't in their current search area. Something didn't smell right. Cyclops gave him a look, but didn't dare say anything, then continued on his original path.

Wolverine walked around the back of the bar trying to follow the scent, but the smell of smoke, beer, and puke from the bar threw him off track. He continued down the alley which took a sharp turn north, as he rounded the corner he saw a figure in the shadows at the side of the alley, only a few feet in front of him. Startled, he took a fighting pose and sniffed again. This time the smell of blood was unmistakable. Wolverine relaxed, whoever this person was they were too injured to cause him any trouble; even so he took a few steps back so that the figure, which was slowly approaching, would have to come into the light before it got close to him.

This done, he had time to study this mysterious person. The first thing Wolverine had noticed was the limp, the figure was putting almost no weight at all on its right leg, so to move forward it (he had not determined if it was male or female) was hopping unsteadily on the other leg with the right hand leaning on the wall for support. The whole figure was leaning sideways and hunched forward in a wobbly fashion, its head was down in an unnatural position as if it were too heavy to hold up, also indicating that this person's sole focus at the time was simply to hop forward, it hadn't even looked up or noticed Wolverine the whole time he'd been standing there. The figure's left arm hung limp.

Wolverine was about to step forward to grab whoever this was, since it looked like it might not take another step and he was tired of waiting, when the figure suddenly looked up at him and lurched forward into the light. He gasped, despite himself. It was a girl, a fairly young girl. She was of average build with long light brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing khaki pants and a black polo shirt with some kind of logo embroidered in the upper left corner. This must be some kind of work uniform he thought. And it was, accordingly she had a badge pinned directly under the logo that read cheerily: Hello, My name is: Julia! followed by a smiley face. But more noticeable than any of this was that she was covered in blood; there was blood matted in her hair and streaked down her face. It appeared that the majority of the blood was caked on her lifeless left arm and had dripped from where it hung at her side all down the length of her khaki pants.

"Julia" he read out loud. Then he thought to himself: so this is the girl we've been looking for.


	2. Saving Julia

**A/N: It's been about 5 years since I took a first aid course, and I haven't been watching much ER lately so forgive me if some of the methods I describe in this chapter are not quite right / dangerously wrong. Feel free to correct me in the review area – it will be educational! Also, sorry I didn't work in anything about Julia's life, personality or powers into this chapter, there just wasn't a place for it. But I promise she has those things, and they will be in the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews everybody! It's good tohear from other people who say I don't suck!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to XME – hmmm, maybe someday if I become Mrs. Stan Lee...**

**P.S. In case I can't figure out how to put it up, chapter one is titled: Finding Julia**

Desecration Chapter 2: Saving Julia

Previously in Desecration:

It was a girl, a fairly young girl. She was of average build with long light brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing khaki pants and a black polo shirt with some kind of logo embroidered in the upper left corner. This must be some kind of work uniform he thought. And it was, accordingly she had a badge pinned directly under the logo that read cheerily: Hello, My name is: Julia! followed by a smiley face. But more noticeable than any of this was that she was covered in blood; there was blood matted in her hair and streaked down her face. It appeared that the majority of the blood was caked on her lifeless left arm and had dripped from where it hung at her side all down the length of her khaki pants.

"Julia" he read out loud. Then he thought to himself: so this is the girl we've been looking for.

* * *

The girl reacted to the sound of her name and, although she had come to the end of the wall she had been leaning on, took another great leap forward coming to rest directly in front of Wolverine; her good arm grabbing at the fabric of his uniform to keep balance.

He began to speak, but she interrupted him. Pushing her face up just inches away from his she said with a scratchy haggard voice, "I NEED to get to a hospital." Then while keeping her eyes locked on his, she rubbed her hips suggestively against him and licked her lips in a sexy manner. "I will give you anything you want, if you will get me to a hospital." she added her eyes changing expression, becoming desperate.

The act disgusted him, partly because she was so young, but mostly because it sickened him to think that she truly felt that sort of a thing was necessary to receive help. He put a hand under her good elbow to hold her up while he wrenched is uniform out of the vice-like grip of her hand. Then he radioed Cyclops and Jean with his position shouting for them to hurry.

"I'm Logan, I've been looking for you." he said, trying to reassure the girl, although she looked too spent to need calming.

"What! What is this? Who are you? How do you know me?" she began to panic, the words streaming out of her mouth. She spoke quietly, sounding as if she were fading away. Her voice was raw and cracked on some of the words. "Probably from screaming." Logan thought to himself.

"Shhh," Logan tried again. "I'm here to help you; I'm going to get you help." He was now supporting her full weight, though it was no trouble for him.

"I need an ambulance."

"I'll get an ambulance."

"You didn't, you didn't call one, its not coming, there is no one coming. I need an ambulance." She was beginning to panic again. Logan pulled out his communicator and showed it to her.

"Look." he commanded. Then he used it to call Cyclops and Jean again. "Hurry! I need you to get here. The girl is severely injured. We need to get her out of here!" he cried into the device. Julia seemed to calm down then. At that moment Cyclops came around the corner to meet them.

"Jean can't get the van down the alley you followed, it's too narrow. She's trying to get here by going around the block and coming from the north. If not we'll have to mo... Good Lord!" Cyclops interrupted his own sentence as he finally got close enough to see the extent of the damage on the girl.

"I need you to go back into the bar and get some clean rags. I don't care what you have to do to get them. We need something to bandage her arm and stop the bleeding. Tell Jean to meet us at the main street, the alley is just as narrow coming from the other direction." Wolverine gave his orders, once again taking command of the situation. Cyclops took off in the direction of the bar radioing the new plan to Jean.

It was a long slow crawl to get back to the street. Logan couldn't tell how badly damaged Julia was or where, he suspected she had a few broken ribs. Since he couldn't carry her or really offer much more than support, in effect he became the replacement for the wall as she hopped along like she had before.

Cyclops met them at the street with an armful of rags.

"The bar wasn't any help at all, but I got these from a Chinese place a little further down the block"

"Good. Where's Jean?"

"She's having trouble getting back here, something about one way streets and dead ends."

"Ok. You take care of the girl. Wrap up her arm, make a tourniquet, and look at that bad leg of hers." Wolverine said as he gently set Julia down on the sidewalk. "I'm gonna figure out where she came from and see if I can find out anything about who did this." If Julia minded being talked about as if she weren't even there, she didn't say anything about it. She had been silent since she had heard Logan call for help. Her face was completely blank. He gave her a worried look, wondering if she was going to make it, but he didn't say anything; he didn't want her to hear that. "Whoever it was better hope they're not still hanging around" he threatened while simultaneously unsheathing all six of his fierce ademantium claws. He stormed back down the alley.

Scott began attending to her wounds, there were many. He asked her the usual questions: Where does it hurt most? Is your vision ok? Do you think you broke anything? Her eyes were still open, but she did not respond. Her lips were unnaturally pale. Scott did the best he could to clean her arm, but the skin was slashed in so many directions, he couldn't get much of the blood off. So he bandaged it tightly using several thicknesses of rags, hoping it wouldn't bleed through; then he tied it off with strips torn from another rag. Worried about her lack of response, he checked her eyes for dilation but didn't see any. He didn't think she had a concussion but it couldn't be ruled out. He checked out the blood on her face and in her hair, but didn't see any wound it could be coming from. Scott guessed that it had all come from her arm, relieved that there were no major head injuries. Overall the girl's face was in good shape, no broken nose or black eye and her teeth and jaw were all still in place. He was about to look at her bad leg, but if it really was broken there was little he could do for her here.

Just then Jean pulled the van up to where they were waiting. She got out and opened the side door in preparation for getting Julia in with the least amount of jostling. Scott was glad to see her, it was kinda creepy being along with Julia since she was not moving or speaking.

Jean did her best to not act shocked about the girl's injuries, remembering her first aid training: never let the victim know how bad it is. She stooped down to be on eye level with the girl. "Hi Julia, my name is Jean Grey and we're gonna get you out of here, ok?" Julia turned her head to look at Jean but said nothing. Jean used her telepathic abilities to try and assess the girl's mental state. She found that Julia's mind was crazed with panicked thoughts about what had happened and plans for survival. Relieved that she sensed no brain damage, Jean tried again for a response. "Scott and I need for you to get up now, ok?" Julia said nothing; Jean tried again. "Can you stand up for me?" This time she said yes, weakly. Scott and Jean each took one of her arms and gently helped her until she was standing on her good leg.

"Ok," said Scott, "now we'll just come over this way and get into the van." He began to lead here over to where it was waiting, door open.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Julia screamed. She struggled and broke free from their grip, stumbling a few feet back, banging her broken leg around painfully in the process.

"Julia" Jean called to her, trying to reach the girl mentally, but she had no way to get through the panic.

"Not again, please not again. No, no, no, no. I won't let you do this again." Julia was speaking at a rapid fire pace, but quietly, almost as if she were speaking to herself. She looked wildly back and forth between the open door of the van and where Jean and Scott were staring at her while she slowly backed away crying, "just leave me alone, leave me alone, please, leave me alone, not again, leave me alone, please?" over and over.

Scott tried to reach out for her, but she just screamed. Fortunately, Logan had returned from his investigation; he was carrying her purse, which he had found in the alley that she had come from. He threw it down and rushed to help, once he saw what was going on. He snuck quietly to where the three were standing, then grabbed Julia firmly from behind.

"She's having a flashback; she doesn't even see us anymore, only her attackers." Logan explained, "Cyke you get in the van first, sit on the floor, and I'll pass her to you. You're gonna have to hold her steady during the trip back. This arm still needs a tourniquet." Julia tried to break free from his grasp, but was much too weak; she was even too exhausted to scream again. Logan carefully picked her up and positioned her so that she was sitting in Scott's lap with her legs going across the back of the van. Then, he popped out just one claw saying, "We need to get this shoe off before her foot swells up anymore." So he carefully cut around the base of her tennis shoe causing the rubber sole to break away from the leather. Julia whimpered a little bit but didn't struggle any further. He also cut a lenth from her shoe laces. He handed it to Scott so he could make a tourniquet around the upper part of her injured arm. "Once you get that thing tight, you have to hold it, and don't let go until we get to the infirmary of the institute, if you do she'll bleed to death." Logan instructed, worried that she may have already lost too much blood. Then he turned to Jean, who had gone to retrieve the fallen purse. "Red, I'm gonna drive this time because we're in a hurry, plus, I need you in the back seat doing everything you can to calm Julia down. Knock her out telepathically if you have to." Jean nodded in understanding then jumped in the back seat.

It was a wild and long ride back. The car was eerily silent. In the beginning Julia had tears streaming down her face as she sobbed to herself as she softly cried, "please don't hurt me" over and over again. After about 20 minutes of trying to work with her, Jean ended up putting her into a deep telepathic slumber. After that no one really felt like speaking, and it was clearly not a good time to be listening to the radio. Logan drove as fast as he could with out drawing attention from the cops the entire way back to Bayville. Scott sat with Julia on his lap, which was surprisingly uncomfortable, her head was very heavy against his shoulder and her tail bone dug painfully into his thigh. However, he was afraid to move and hurt her. His left hand was clamped around her left upper arm the entire time, helping to cut off the blood flow which had soaked through the rags and was getting all over him and everything else. After Jean had knocked Julia out, she began work removing the pieces of shoe and sock remaining around the broken foot. It was slow work and Jean had to use her telekinesis a few times being careful not to further disrupt the broken bones. Both Jean and Scott wanted to ask Logan what he had found in the alley, but knew he would only grunt in reply. They would simply have to wait until they got back to the Institute, and Professor Xavier, to hear the full report of what had happened.


	3. Discussing Julia

**A/N: Wow this chapter really got away from me. I only got in about ½ of what I was planning on putting in. So Julia, still not a major player until next chapter, but this time I really promise! There's nothing left between here and there. I know the part I put in about the blood transfusion is really improbable, but I pulled that plot line straight from an episode of the original animated series (the recipient was Leech I think) and if it worked for them it can work for me.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own X-Men, probably never will**

* * *

Desecration Chapter 3: Discussing Julia

Dr. McCoy may look like a beast, but the agility of his hands is on par with the finest of surgeons. Even so it took him hours to stitch up the mess they had found on Julia's arm. The professor had cleaned her wounds himself. He was shocked to see the damage to her arm that was underneath the blood and debris. What he had assumed to be a series of jagged cuts from something like broken glass actually turned out to be intentional destruction. Clearly read across the underside of her left arm from elbow to wrist was the word "MUTANT" in clear block letters written with the tip of a knife. Despite Dr. McCoy's surgical prowess, the cuts were too irregular to stitch up nicely; when they healed the scars would be very prominent. It sickened them both to think that such a hateful message had been carved into her body and that in a way the mark would never leave her.

X-rays revealed that her right foot was broken in several places, along with a few of her ribs, but luckily any other damage was minor. Scott had been correct in his assessment of her head injuries. There were no gashes or brain damage, however a fairly large bruise had formed on her left temple, it had been hidden by the blood there. She had bruises and scrapes on her back and arms, but other then the ones near her broken ribs, they were all relatively small. Her right knee was swollen, probably due to the same stress that had broken her foot, but since she would not be using that leg anytime soon, it was of little importance.

While Dr. McCoy was operating on her arm the Professor had set her leg and did a blood test. Julia had lost so much blood she was in need of an emergency transfusion. There were several mutants at the Institute with a matching blood type, all willing to give their blood to someone in need, but the Professor chose Logan to be the donor. Not only would he be safely able to give more blood then the others, but some of Dr. McCoy's earlier research had indicated that a portion of his healing factor could be transferred in the blood. In a best case scenario Julia would actually heal faster than normal, and there would be no increased risk in trying even if the findings were not true.

It took through the next morning for Julia's condition to stabilize, at that time the Professor gathered Jean, Scott, and Logan in his office to learn more about what had happened.

"Thank you all for your excellent work last night. I know none of you got very much sleep, so we'll keep this meeting short. First of all, Julia is in stable condition but resting for now. I expect her to be awake and alert sometime this evening." began Professor Xavier, "As we've already discussed Julia's medical condition I think it would now be best to review everything we know about this girl and how she came to be in her present state. Logan, please start."

So Logan told of how he had found Julia and recounted their short conversation. He concluded by saying that he passed her to Scott and then returned to the alley.

"And what did you find during your search in the alley?" prompted the Professor, moving the conversation in a less chronological direction.

"I followed her tracks pretty easy" he said shaking his head, "There was a trail of blood all the way down that alley. I followed it for maybe 30 yards to where it intersects with another alley. There was a puddle of blood there; she must have been at that spot for a while. The ground was disturbed and the crates and trash in the area had been recently pushed around, my guess is that there was a fight. I caught the scent of at least two other people, so we know she was out numbered but still held her own, at least for a little while. But that area was not the start of the trail, it continued down that alley but on the other side of a ten foot fence with a barbed top. I checked for holes or loose areas but there weren't any; she had to have gone over it... but that doesn't make any sense!"

"That may have something to do with her mutant powers" began the Professor.

"So when she used her powers to jump the fence was when Cerebro picked her up?" questioned Scott, jumping into the conversation for the first time.

"Can't be." argued Logan, "It doesn't match with the timeline. The time between when she jumped the fence and when we found her would have to be much shorter then the amount of time between when Cerebro found her and when we got there."

"You don't know that, we have no idea how long she was in that alley." said Scott refusing to back down. He furrowed his brow, something just wasn't adding up here. After a moment where everybody just watched him think the Professor realized that he needed to get the conversation back on track. "Logan, please continue your report; we will speculate the why's and how's later."

"The trail continued for another 150 – 170 yards beyond the fence, along a few different streets. The blood trail was much lighter at that part so either she was bleeding less, which I highly doubt, or she was moving a lot faster. Then it ended. I didn't see anything special about the place where it started. It was just a dirty alley - pretty deserted, didn't find any clues about who her attackers are. That's where I found her purse though, thrown to the side a little further down the road." Logan concluded.

"Jean, tell us what you found in her purse, anything relevant?" directed the Professor. Jean blushed, still feeling a little embarrassed about having invaded the privacy of another woman by searching through her purse uninvited. But since Jean was the only female involved in the situation, she was the one for the job.

"Nothing special." she responded, "I found her drivers license: her name is Julia Renee Stockton, she's only 16, and she's from Newark, New Jersey."

"Any evidence for how long she had been in New York?" asked the Professor

"Um... I found a couple of receipts from stores in Newark dated as recently as three days ago. Oh Yeah!" Jean suddenly remembered, "I noticed that everything in the purse was all zipped up, like it hadn't been gone through at all, and there was almost one hundred dollars in cash in there. They must have just thrown it aside with out looking in it."

"Good observation Jean." remarked the Professor, "Were you able to gather any other information from her thoughts?"

"Not much." she shook her head disappointedly, "She was really panicked, and everything was so confusing, so mixed up. I've been able to sort out that there were three of them, all strangers to her. A few phrases they used: You don't deserve to live, freak." Jean flinched, feeling the powerful emotions that came with the memory. "What nasty people."

"Anything else?" asked the Professor, thinking that this wasn't enough to work with.

Jean closed her eyes in order to concentrate. "Hmm...no, that's about it." then she added, "and I'm not really sure about that being right. I also got something about a long ride on the floor of a van but her memories of them are completely intertwined with the three of us and the trip back to the institute, I can't tell what's real."

The professor frowned and placed his fingertips together in front of himself to indicate that he was taking a moment to think. "Is that all?" The three X-men nodded. He frowned again. "I guess the truth will remain a mystery until she is ready to tell the story herself... have you solved the puzzle that's been bothering you Scott?"

"Cerebro discovers new mutants when they use their powers for the first time." he began by stating the obvious. "And Professor, you told us that she was in trouble based on what you found by using Cerebro... which is why we went to find her. Is that right, Professor?" he wanted to check his facts before continuing with his theory.

"Yes, also remember that Cerebro can only locate mutants when their powers are in use."

"So then we know that she was in New York and that these guys were already giving her trouble the first time she used her powers..."

"It could have been someone else – two groups" Logan interjected; he wanted to make sure that all the possibilities were kept in mind. Jumping to conclusions is often dangerous.

"No, that just isn't right. This was planned. I really feel like they new she was a mutant and planned this out and kidnapped her from New Jersey..."

"She could have been a run away." Logan interrupted again.

"Then how do you explain the work uniform?" Scott shot back. No one replied and he didn't continue his argument, realizing that he had run out of ideas to follow.

"I can see that everyone is tired." said the Professor, trying to ease the tension in the room, "I suggest that you all take the day off and get some rest. Dr. McCoy, Ororo, and I will be able to watch Julia and handle the scheduled Danger Room sessions."

And with that the meeting ended.

**

* * *

Crappy ending, I know.**

**I'm finally taking time to respond to my reviewers. Thanks guys!**

**Phoenix-Forever – I'm glad you appreciate OC's. I don't understand what people have against them, some of the best fanfics have OC's. All I know is that some people get pretty violent when you spring one on them unexpectedly.**

**p.s. I've figured out from context what OC means, but what do the actual letters stand for? (besides orange county)**

**GothikStrawberry – I know I practically promised speedy quick updates when I began typing out this story, but now I've come to the part where I'm not sure what is going to happen (writer's block, bum bum bum.) However, I'm getting cut off from the internet in exactly one week, so I'm gonna try my darndest to finish out this story before then, I hate to have unfinished business.**

**ShalBrenFan – Thanks for being my very special double reviewer! I know Wolverine has a really keen sense of smell, but he lost Julia's scent because he was right next to that bar – and a little downwind – and the stink was momentarily overpowering (bars can be REALLY smelly). I imagine it's a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack.**


	4. Meeting Julia

**A/N: I decided to switch to first person POV this chapter, let me know what you think! (I tried to switch to 1st person POV and present tense, but that didn't work out, but if some of the verbs are funky – that's why.) This might be the last chapter for a while (there are 1 or 2 more left in the story overall.) See my profile for the full explanation. I hate to leave you hanging so close to the end, but there was no way to get this done faster. As is, the last page or so of this chapter was rushed through to get it done tonight.**

**GothikStrawberry: Thanks for helping out with my 'problem' – it took me a while to realize that M rated stories aren't listed on the main page until you change the settings.**

**Which reminds me: I'm thinking about changing the story rating to 'T' all the gore and violence is pretty much out there already (it'll be about the same in the rest of the chapters.) And now that I'm reading the finished versions, they don't seem as bad as when I was just imagining them in my head. What do you think T or M?**

* * *

Desecration Chapter 4: Meeting Julia 

I woke up in a room that seemed to be full of only things that are white or shiny or metallic. My eyes instantly started watering and fluttering it took me a moment to clear them. When I did, I saw the kindest face I could imagine sitting next to me. What a nice old man, well I shouldn't say he is old, he is bald but looked to be about the same age as my father. _My father_, I wondered briefly about my parents and if they knew where I was, I certainly didn't. I tried to get up but a sharp pain shot from my chest, I cried out and fell back to the bed sheets.

"Don't move for a moment, get your bearings and assess your injuries first."

Then I realized that the man had been speaking to me the whole time and had put a hand on my shoulder to keep me still. I only caught that last sentence; I hope he didn't think I was being rude. I did what he told me. I was already aware that my leg was broken, there's no mistaking that, and the pain I felt earlier means my ribs are either bruised or broken. I'll have to take care to hold my upper body perfectly straight, any twisting will be very painful. I moved my head up to try and get a better look at myself. I noticed that my neck was stiff but not injured and wondered how long I had been laying there. I didn't see or feel any other problems and was glad to know that I didn't think I had any brain damage, not that that counts for much. "Except you don't know where you are, who you're with or what happened to you." the cynical part of my brain cried out, but I really thought that I hadn't forgotten I just hadn't made the effort to remember yet. I began a second attempt to sit up; my first move was to get my hands in a better position to push. When I moved my left arm I realized that something was wrong with it. I turned my head again to really look this time and I saw that it was covered with bandages. In a rush all the memories of the night before came back to me and I saw it clearly as if by x-ray vision emblazoned there on my arm: that word. I month ago I didn't care about that word one way or another but now I hate it.

"Oh!" I cried out unintentionally and fell back to the sheets. It had only been a moment since my first attempt to get up and I was already abandoning the second. Not quite ready to try again I instead turned to look at the man who has been sitting beside me all along.

"I am sorry about your arm." he began

"It's numb."

"Yes, it has a local anesthetic, and you've been given some very strong pain killers, they're causing you to be a little confused right now."

"That doesn't make it go away." I just stared at him blankly having millions of questions to ask but not really wanting to have that conversation without some kind of introduction.

"My name is Professor Charles Xavier. You are in the medical lab of my institute, a kind of a school for young people with gifts such as yourself, in Bayville, New York." he began, answering my top three questions in one shot. I realized that he had introduced himself to me at least twice already, before I began paying attention. Then, strangely, he added, "And yes I am a licensed Physician, I just choose to go by the title of Professor instead of Doctor." answering my fourth question as well, even though I hadn't asked it. I did my best not to scrunch up my face as I puzzled out how he could have known to say that when I heard him say. "_I am gifted also, I am telepathic: I have the ability to read minds, among other things_." Only he didn't actually say it. I was watching, his lips didn't move at all, I just heard his voice in my head. A little put off by the experience I replied, "You call them gifts, but you're wrong. I'm not 'gifted' I'm a mutant, or can't you read." while gesturing toward my bandaged arm. The words sounded so mean; as soon as they left my mouth I regretted them. To my defense I had had a really bad day, and I was more then a little overwhelmed.

But he only responded with warmth and sympathy. He took my right hand in his and said, smiling "I'd like to talk with you about what happened, when you are ready. With my powers I can help you deal with the memories, and I can help calm you. I made this place to be a safe place for mutants, a home where you don't have to worry about the hatred of those who don't understand, or are afraid. But right now there is another, more pressing matter which we need to discuss: Do your parents know that you are a mutant?"

"Yes," I replied, having forgotten completely about my parents for a moment. "I told them a few days after I knew, and they're ok with it, not happy but ok."

"Then I need to call them immediately. You've been missing for almost a day and I'm sure they are anxious to know where you are and that you are safe. In the mean while I suggest that you get some more rest, you are not well enough to be up yet." he said as he headed for the door. As he did so I realized for the first time that he was in a wheelchair, but didn't have time to wonder why as I suddenly envisioned my poor parents, who had been worrying for almost a month about the dangers I would be in as a mutant. This attack was basically a direct manifestation of their fears. I thought about the long drive here, and how much time that would be to stew and worry and fret.

"Wait, Professor" I called out. He turned to look at me and I continued, "Don't tell them everything. Don't tell them how bad it is; they worry"

He nodded in understanding, and left the room. All those thoughts of my parents worrying about me made me think about what happened the night before, and then the reality of how bad things were finally got to me. I was all alone in a strange room, in a world that suddenly seemed to be only filled with hate, and I hurt, even through the pain killers I hurt. My arm was throbbing now, the anesthetic finally wearing off. It was too much for me to bear any longer. I had always been the type to keep a stiff upper lip, tears don't do anything constructive, but there was no stopping them now. They rolled down my face and I began sobbing uncontrollably. This made my broken ribs hurt even worse, and I became aware of how raw and scratchy my throat was, but all that just made me cry harder.

The professor must have expected this; it wouldn't take a psychic, because at that moment someone came in and sat next to me. I didn't see who it was since my head was turned away from the door, and I didn't care to know, but they handed me some much needed tissues and sat next to me, rubbing my back reassuringly and making those shushh sounds that people make when they don't know how to deal with someone who is crying. I must have cried for a while, I have no idea how long, it felt like I might never stop, but I eventually did because I fell asleep.

* * *

I don't know how long I was sleeping but it couldn't have been too long because when I woke up it was still evening of the same day; still less then 24 hours since this whole mess started. I was feeling a little better, even though my eyes were puffy from crying and the tears had stuck my eyelids together a little bit. I hate that. I was surprised to find that the person who had been sitting beside me was still there, a girl with long red hair who looked to be the same age as me. She must be one of the students he was talking about.

"Feeling better, Julia?" she asked

"Yeah... and I'm starving"

She giggled a little bit at that and said, "That's a good sign; you're recovering well. Have you noticed how quickly your bruises are fading?"

I shook my head not understanding at all; it had only been a day the bruises should still be growing and darkening in color – not fading. Besides, I hadn't really taken the time to notice them at all yet, a few bruises were the least of my problems.

"How do you know my name?" I asked realizing that I hadn't given it out to anyone here, not even the Professor. "Are you psychic too?"

"Yeah, by the way I'm Jean. But I didn't need my powers to know your name, you were wearing a name badge last night, remember?" I looked down and for the first time realized that I was wearing a hospital gown and not my work clothes.

"Oh." I said embarrassed that I had forgotten the normal ways people could know things, then trying to change the subject, "What did you mean earlier about my bruises?"

"Well, I guess I should leave that up to the Professor to explain. He came in to check up on you a few minutes ago and left a message."

I thought about pressing her for more information about the bruises, even though I didn't think she'd tell. It really bothers me when people start saying something and then change their minds. But instead I just said "Yeah" so I could hear the message.

"He spoke with your parents on the phone and they decided that it was too late at night to make the drive here, but they are coming first thing in the morning." she said and then handing me a phone from a nearby table, "And you are to call them first thing when you wake up. I think they just need to hear your voice to feel like you're really ok."

"They mean it when they say first thing in the morning – I'd expect them to get here before 8." I warned her as I dialed the familiar numbers.

"I'll give you some privacy." She got up to leave. The phone was already ringing the other end, but no one had picked up yet so I called to her right before she stepped out, "Could you bring me some real clothes please?" as I had decided that my first mission would be to make myself presentable, and the second to go get some food.

The call to my parents had been pretty uneventful. Everyone was just glad to know where I was and that I was at least Ok enough to sound well on the phone. I talked my Mom into bringing a batch of her famous chocolate oatmeal cookies with her the next morning. I know it seems like a silly thing to ask for, but I was in serious need of some comfort food. Near the end of the conversation my Mom started crying and of course that got me all teary eyed. I was like that still when Jean came back into the room. I began to feel ashamed of the impression I must be giving with all this crying, but thankfully she pretended not to notice.

"Ok, I brought you a skirt, I figured that would be the easiest for you to put on, and I just grabbed one of my tops because I figured we're about the same size. Do you like this top?" She showed it to me but before I could say anything she continued, "Oh, shoot! You'll need a bra, I completely forgot." she sighed and eyed my chest and continued again, I don't think she was even speaking to me at this point. "Your definately not my bra size, maybe one of the other girls' will fit you. What size do you wear? Oh, never mind there's like no chance of getting the right size, I'll just go find a top with a built in..." and with that she was out the door again.

After a few minutes of processing what had happened, I used the time to work at getting up and out of the bed. The sooner I could get to some food the better.

Jean came back and started rambling again, I won't bore you with the details. Eventually she had to stop to breath and I managed to ask, "Can't I just wear my own clothes?" She didn't answer but the look on her face was a definite no. I let my curiosity get the best of me and asked, "What happened to my clothes?"

Slowly she answered, "They are pretty much ruined. You bled a lot last night, so they were stained and filthy and... they cut your clothes off when you got here... its standard medical procedure." she added the last part guiltily.

"It doesn't matter." I'm not quite sure why she sounded guilty, it was just a work uniform and I'm not going back there anyway.

I'll spare you the details of how slow and awkward it was for me to get dressed. It took the two of us over 20 minutes. I will tell you that at one point Jean suddenly blurted out "I've just never had to dress someone who was a complete stranger before." And when I gave her a confused look she just tapped her temple with one finger in what must be the universal 'I read your mind' hand gesture and said, "You wanted to know why I'm nervous." While I'm in the habit of sparing details, I'll just leave out how excruciatingly slow and humiliating it was for me to figure out a method for using crutches to limp myself down to the kitchen area. Let's just say having a bad arm and a bad leg at the same time makes it quite the challenge.

* * *

I had been starving before, but when I got to the kitchen I had the hardest time picking out anything that seemed appetizing to me at all. I ended up deciding on a grilled cheese sandwich, some green bean casserole that Jean had found in the fridge, and some nice hot tea. The tea had been brewed before I got to the kitchen by an African woman with long white hair. She handed me a cup just as I took my seat.

"I'm Ororo, but people also call me Storm." she introduced herself. "The tea will help sooth your throat and your nerves."

"I'm Julia." I responded even though I figured that everybody in the room already knew that. Some things just need to be said. Also in the kitchen area were a boy with dark red sunglasses on (even though it was night and he was indoors), a tough older man who looked a little like a lumberjack to me, and a boy with pointy ears and bright blue fur. They all introduced themselves to me, but I couldn't keep track of any of the names. All I could do was think to myself 'Well, in the very least I can say that I have met some very _interesting_ people.' I must not have done a very good job of keeping a not-confused face during the introductions because the boy with the sunglasses said to me, "Don't worry, it always takes a while to get to know everybody." I didn't tell him that I wasn't planning on sticking around long enough to 'get to know everybody'.

Ororo had been kind enough to offer to cook my grilled cheese sandwich for me. I thought a moment about protesting and cooking it myself, but upon reflection realized that I probably couldn't manage it. I didn't pay much attention to the conversation of the others, as I was more focused on eating the casserole as fast as possible with out looking like I was inhaling it.

Not too long after, I ran out of tea. For most people, getting up to refill a cup of tea would not be a problem. Now, I realized that I was limited by my injuries, but seriously, it's a cup of tea. So I stood up to get it. By the time I finished standing up all five of the others had moved towards me and offered to get what ever it was I was I wanted. I realize now that it would have been simplest to just sit back down and let them have their way, but at that particular moment I was feeling particularly stubborn and did not feel like being treated like a glass doll. Besides I was already standing, which is half the battle.

"I just need some more tea," I said in my calmest most polite voice, although a little loud to be heard above their protests, "and I can get it my self." It was only six steps from my seat to the teapot, and I made them all slowly and carefully while my ears burned from having 5 pairs of eyes staring at me. I refilled my cup and turned around to make the return voyage. This time, however, on step number two I tipped my cup a little bit and the hot tea spilled back over my hand and wrist. My arm jerked in a reflex to the heat and before I knew it I had lost my balance backwards.

Suddenly I felt a hand grab my left wrist from behind and an arm go around my waist to catch me before I fell. I was back in the alley. Out numbered, someone was grabbing me, holding my arm out - bare to the world. I struggled and screamed trying to break free from the horrible grasp, but the man was much stronger then me. He holds my arm out to the side; I try and pull it back to safety, but its no use. They are all yelling, cursing at me; and I can see him coming; he's right in front of me with his pocket knife held out. I can smell his bad breath and I know what he is going to do.

Just as quickly as I had been in the alley I was back in the kitchen, still screaming. The older man had caught me as I fell. I was shaking horribly as if I were standing in a blizzard with no coat, but I wasn't cold, I was sweating all over. I felt like the shaking would never stop. I saw Jean in front of me. She was holding my hands, and I got the feeling that she had brought me back here. It took a few moments for me to process what she was saying.

"It was just a flashback, it's not real. It's over, you're ok. It was just a flashback. You're safe here. We won't let them get you."

She was trying to be reassuring, and I know she wouldn't lie, but still I had a hard time believing her. I just couldn't stop shaking. And I couldn't stop the memories of what happened.

"It's time for you to talk to the Professor, kid." said a gravelly voice from over my shoulder. The man was still behind me, holding me up. Logan? I think his name was. He seemed awfully familiar. I looked around the kitchen and saw the tea cup spilled and broken on the floor, and sadly the grilled cheese sandwich was down there with it. It didn't matter; my stomach was doing flip flops so I wouldn't have been able to eat it anyway.

"I do have to talk to the Professor," I finally admitted. It was a conversation I had been hoping to avoid.

"I should be able to get you there without any more problems." said the boy with blue fur. I noticed for the first time that he had a German accent. He put a hand on my shoulder, and I pulled back a little realizing that he only had two fingers per hand.

"Don't worry." he said reassuringly, "I'm a teleporter. I can get you there in no time at all." And just like that in a blink of an eye, him, the man standing behind me and myself were all standing in Professor Xavier's office. I didn't even have time to protest. I had been counting on using the long walk there as a last ditch procrastination effort.

"Sit down, everyone." The Professor motioned to some chairs and couches in the room. The blue-furred boy, whose name I was beginning to wish I had learned, excused himself from the room and the others from the kitchen entered. Maybe it wouldn't have been a long enough walk here anyway.

"Miss Stockton, I know it is a painful and delicate subject for you, but if I am going to help you, I need to hear your story about what happened last night."


	5. Counseling Julia

**A/N: Its back and its practically finished! I apologize for the long delay between Chapters 4 and 5, and appreciate the patience of those of you who continue to read my little story. We finally get to hear from Julia about what happened in that alley! How exciting! The only problem is that it's been so long since I began, I forgot where I was going a little bit. So there are definitely some continuity errors, I tried to smooth them over but I couldn't always figure it out. While were nit picking there's also a split infinitive that I left in for your reading pleasure, 5 bonus points to any reviewer that can point it out.**

**While my summer job getting in the way was the original reason for going on hiatus – not gonna lie – I've been back since August 8 but have been suffering from a big case of the "don't feel like its" I'm just not in the same mood I was when I started writing this. But I pushed to get it finished before the school year started, otherwise there'd be no chance and I hate unfinished business. Because of that the chapter seems really rushed to me, even though it's the longest one. Tant pis. All that's left to the story now is a quick epilogue chapter, hopefully up sometime this week.**

**Last thing – I changed the rating from M back to T. It just wasn't as gory as I originally visualized, plus I don't think very many people read the M pages. ( if you do there is a very good story recently finished there called "I'm Fine" which I highly recommend)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to anything XME. Julia is my character, but I consider her to be public domain.**

* * *

Desecration Chapter 5: Counseling Julia

The Professor had arranged the seating so he could be directly across from where Julia was seated on the couch. Scott and Logan were present in the room, mostly in case they could provide details from the night before that Julia could not remember. Also, they deserved to know the truth as much as anyone. Julia had Ororo and Jean sitting on each side of her for moral and physical support. This also put Jean in a good position to use her powers to help stabilize the psychic connection Professor Xavier hoped to make with the girl. His successful psycho-analysis technique involves using his mutant powers to actually get inside the memories of the person he is assisting allowing him to provide counseling and have control over which memories are being reviewed, a unique advantage over other therapists. He could also alter / erase traumatizing memories from his patients but he was not planning on taking such extreme steps during this session. He hoped Julia could find resolve through just talking, but there would be no way to know until she began.

Julia took a deep breath and let out a sigh, but was clearly not ready to begin speaking. Unfortunately there was not much else for anyone to say; so the professor instead began a slightly pointless round of re-introductions.

"Julia this is Logan and Scott. They, along with Jean, were the ones who brought you here last night."

That explains why they look so familiar, Julia thought to herself, repeating their names in her mind determined not to forget them this time, and thanked them for the assistance. The mention of Jean reminded her of something that she had been meaning to ask that didn't directly relate to her own story, thank goodness. She turned to the red-head beside her, "You mentioned something to me before about how quickly I'm recovering, and you were right. My bruises and scrapes are nearly faded, but they should be just as bad as ever, it's been less then 24 hours. What's going on?"

Jean simply looked to the Professor to provide a response. He began, "You lost a lot of blood last night." Julia quietly flinched. "So when you arrived here it was necessary to perform a transfusion. Mr. Logan provided the blood we needed and we feel that part of his regenerative mutant powers transferred to you, causing you to heal faster than normal."

Julia looked up in alarm, slightly upset at being considered 'un-normal' even if that meant healing faster. "But that's not possible! They told me that being a mutant isn't contagious, that it can't pass from one person to another! I can't, that can't be!" As she was speaking she thought of her own powers and how her life would change if she was to be considered not-safe around normal people.

Fortunately, she needn't have worried. The Professor responded, "Calm yourself, it is true that mutant powers are not contagious. Mutancy is a genetic condition not a disease. However, in some situations the line blurs a little. I'm not certain but I believe that Logan's power manifests by producing some kind of biologic factors that exist in his blood stream causing him to heal quickly, and it was these factors, not his actual power, that passed on to you during the transfusion." Then the professor realized how far Julia had managed to side-track the conversation and he attempted to get back on course. "It is getting late and you'll need to rest soon, so we really do need to begin the discussion at hand."

"I don't know where to start."

"Start with the first time you knew that you were a mutant, who you've talked to about it." The professor prompted.

"About a month ago... I guess. I was at home standing on the bathroom scale and all of a sudden the numbers dipped. I mean they went down 30 pounds or so, which isn't normal. So I figured the scale was broken, but it worked fine for everyone else in the house, just not me. It was stuck at 89.9, isn't it funny I can remember that number. Anyway, of course my mom over-reacted and thought I had some kind of eating disorder, so she dragged me off to all kinds of doctors, who all said I was fine, because obviously I was. But that's when the real weird stuff happened. At Dr. Emich's office, when they put me on their scale the numbers didn't stay at 89.9 it went back and forth between that and my real weight. And I started to feel it. I realized that there was more going on then the numbers on a scale, that my body was changing, becoming light as a feather. That's what I do you know, my powers, I can become lighter and lighter even though I look the same on the outside. Dr. Emich is the one who put it together that I was a mutant. He's also the only one who knows besides my parents. We decided not to tell anyone, to just lay low and keep it a secret, after a few days it was like it never happened at all. I never had a problem with the scales again."

"And you never used your powers." added the Professor, knowing that if she had used them intentionally she would have shown up on Cerebro. Julia shook her head in agreement. "But you did yesterday?" guessed the professor trying to get to the rest of the story.

"Yeah," Julia confirmed sounding shaky and a little bit guilty, "I was at work... I don't know why I did it. It was so stupid. It's just I had gone that whole time with out any problems, and of course I hadn't used my powers either, but anyway I guess I just let my guard down. So I was at work, and I got bored. I'm a waitress at this restaurant / sports bar not to far from my house with really good mozzarella cheese sticks, but anyway I was at work and we were pretty slow that night ..."

Julia's story was starting to drag as she verbally avoided talking about what ever it was that was making her guilty and the ensuing events, but the Professor refrained from interrupting or using his powers to initiate the relevant memories. He wanted to see how far she could make it on her own. He also noticed that while her head had not moved from looking down into her lap, she had reached out and grabbed Storm's hand for support.

... "Anyway it was like 10:15 and the kitchen had closed at 10, so it was all cleaned up and the only employees left in the place were at the bar, plus me 'cause I was waiting for the last few tables to get done and pay their check. Sometimes people take forever to finish up and go. It had been a really long day and I was tired, and I thought 'Maybe it would be easier if I just lightened the load a little bit.' I can't tell you exactly what I did but all of a sudden I started feeling like I was light-headed and that everything was turning spring-y. So I walked around the room only I was kinda bouncing with out trying at all - like the floor was made out of marshmallows or a trampoline. But then my boss came in. At first, I didn't think he saw what I was doing. He was mad 'cause I had lost track of the time a little and one of my tables was ready to go. But he must have caught me because he fired me, saying I was too distracted or lazy or some bull shit. And I didn't care because the job sucked and I was gonna quit at the end of the summer anyway. I can't believe he fired me!

Anyway, I closed out for the night and was ready to go home. The only ones left in the place were these three seedy guys left at the bar with my boss and the bartender. They were 'regulars', showed up pretty often, usually just hung at the bar, when they did order food they were lousy tippers, and they were always trying to get with me or the other servers. So I didn't think much of it when they were all staring at me as I left, but then two of them followed me out. I got kinda creeped out and was heading for my car when they stopped me and asked for a light. I thought it was just a cheesy pick up line, since there were matches at the bar, so I said no and tried to leave, but then they tried to get me into their van." Julia had to stop for a moment and regain some composure before continuing her story, "I almost got away too, but that last guy, the one I didn't see come out, he snuck up behind me and hit me right here." She gestured at her temple. "And that's all I remember for a while, until we were at that alley." Her eyes widened as a few more memories came forth, once that she hadn't fully realized until now. "I can't... I can't say it, I can't tell you more." she confessed, shaking.

The professor leaned forward and placed his finger tips on her temples, calling up the memories that she did not have the strength to deal with alone. Instantly it was as if he had been transported to the scene and saw as they pulled her from the van into the alley and removed the ropes and gag that had been binding her. Picking up on the memory she hadn't recalled before Julia added, "They just kept asking me questions... what kind of freak are you? What were you doing in our town? do you... d do you think were just gonna let you do whatever you want. freaks like you need to be controlled, we've got families to protect... and and and all I could say was that I would be good if they just let me go...but." She broke off, but the professor still had control over her thoughts. He encouraged her to continue and they both saw the scene progress. The three men had decided that the best way to 'control' mutants was to mark them. Julia was helpless against three men bigger then her. It only took one to restrain her and hold her left arm out to the side while another took a knife and carved MUTANT on it, while the third just sat back and laughed. After that they had no more plans for her, so they discussed their next move.

Seeing the window of opportunity a shocked and dazed Julia pulled herself together and with all the control she could muster from her new powers, broke free and ran for it, hoping that suddenly not weighing as much as they expected would give her the advantage she needed to get away. She also discovered that it made it much easier for her tired body to move fast. However, she still had no idea where she was. Her only plan was to try and find someone to help, though she was uncertain she would be able to find anybody willing to help a mutant. Soon she came to the dead end with the tall wire fence and her attackers close behind. On a wild shot she hoped that legs used to carrying her full body weight would be able to jump much higher in this state. And it worked. But on the way back down she lost control of her powers and the force of the landing shattered the bones of her right foot and sent a shock wave of pain up through her knee and hip. The men following her saw her crumpled on the other side of the fence and realized that she wouldn't be going anywhere soon. They could take their time finding an easier way around it.

"Please no." whispered Julia, who had partially forgotten she was sitting in Xavier's office. She tried to pull away and stop the memories she knew were comming, but Jean carefully took her left hand and added her presence to the psychic bond, making it too strong to break. Jean and the Professor both saw as the Julia in the alley gathered herself to a standing position and not seeing any feasible hiding places or miracles began screaming for help. Crying out with everything she had, thinking it may be the last thing she ever did.

After what seemed like an eternity, her attackers arrived. They circled around her, with only one thing in mind: to damage her to the best of their abilities, to kick and punch her until she stopped moving, simply because she was a mutant and they had nothing better to do that night.

"NO!" screamed Julia, now completely unaware that the experience was in the past and that she now was safe. Mentally she fought them all over again, striking out with her good arm, managing to knee one guy in the balls before a well placed kick sent her to the ground, curled up and completely defenseless.

"Professor STOP!" Ororo's strong voice rang out in the office. It was enough to bring all three back to reality.

"You're right," agreed the professor, "the girl has been through more then enough, and we know everything we need to know." He took a moment to suppress his own revolt at the gruesome scene before telepathically sending Julia the message "You're a brave girl, you're safe now. You're in my care and I can protect you from people like that." It was always shocking to him to see how cruel anti-mutant sentiments could grow. Jean turned aside from the group on the couch and quietly filled Scott and Logan in on what she and the professor had discovered.

Storm pulled Julia, who was still sobbing wildly, into a careful sideways hug, whispering into her ear, "You're ok, it's over now your safe." and running her fingers comfortingly though Julia's hair. None of them had expected her story to be so disturbing. The Professor realized too late that it may be too soon for Julia to revisit the events. However, the worst was over and getting it out like this would be her best protection against continual traumatizing flashbacks.

After taking the time to deal with her emotions Julia pulled herself back to sitting directly in front of the professor and said, "Ok, I'm ok: we can finish."

"There isn't much left to go over." reassured the Professor. "Thank you for sharing your story with us. I'm sure you would like to know how we became involved. To simplify, I have a computer program, called Cerebro, which helps me find new mutants when they first express their powers. In your case, that would be the first time you consciously used your powers to escape from your attackers. The program also lets me psychically connect with the mutants in its databank. I was able to see that you were in danger, and I sent my X-men to New York City to assist you."

"New York?" Julia interrupted, "I never realized I was that far from home... I didn't think we went that far, wow New York... this is so bad. And I'm in Bayville now? How did all that happen?"

"Yeah Professor, I'm still having trouble trying to figure out when all this happened." added Scott. "You say you were in Newark, New Jersey at 10:30?" Julia nodded the affirmative. And we left here just before midnight... that makes sense. It leaves time for your drive and for things to happen the way you described them before you were picked up on Cerebro. But that leaves a huge gap of time between then and when we found you. It was after 2 AM."

Julia's eyes widened as she thought of how long she had actually been alone and hurt in that strange city. "I'm sorry, I don't remember much after I broke my foot. It's all a blur and I didn't know what time it was."

"That's ok." reassured the Professor. "It's possible that you blacked out for a while. But that's not important. What's important is that your safe here and that you try and get some rest. You have a lot of recuperating to do and your parents will be here in the morning."

Slightly warmed by the thought of her parents arriving, Julia allowed herself to be lead to bed by Ororo and Jean. Logan and Scott stayed behind to finish the meeting.

"I don't like it Chuck," the Canadian began. "Four hours is too long for her to have been out there like that."

"Do you think she got the facts wrong?" asked Scott

"Everything she said checked out. Logan you saw the blood on that ground. It is likely that she was unconscious for over an hour before even begining to get up and drag herself out of that alley. She's a tough girl, but I don't like it anymore then you. There has to be a way for us to contact these new mutants before they are subjected to such violence."

"Professor you already do so much. If it wasn't for you she probably would have died last night. The mutant population is growing everyday, you can't protect them all."

"I know Scott, but I can try. This is why I formed the X-Men, she has the two of you to thank for her life as well. I could never have done it with out you. Now I think we should all head to bed, we have a lot on our plates for tomorrow."

* * *

**I, like most authors, live for reviews. Even the bad ones are better then nothing. Also don't forget about that split infinitive!**


	6. Recruiting Julia

**Story necromancy! Talk about getting side-tracked I started this story in 2005 and I'm finishing it in 2012 (more on that at the end). So here it is: the unpublished chapter written in September 2005. And to think I felt bad about over procrastinating back then.**

Desecration Chapter 6: Recruiting Julia

With Julia's parents due to arrive around 7:30, the next morning was quite hectic around the Xavier mansion. Neither Julia nor Scott and Jean were able to sleep well that night, each dealing with an anxiety of their own. Julia had gotten up extra early, determined to look her best for her parents. 'No need to look like I got hit by a bus' she thought to herself as she struggled to apply mascara to her left eye with her right hand and practiced her 'everything's-fine-smile'. One of the girls living here had been kind enough to lend her make-up to use that morning; Julia hadn't caught her name. 'There certainly are a LOT of students here.' She smiled at the scene from breakfast, it had been a real zoo with young mutants running in and out of the kitchen, often introducing themselves to her with a display of power (having found that method much easier and fun then just explaining.) At the time, Julia had been slightly horrified – though she tried to keep the feeling to herself. She had never met other mutants before, and where she was from you didn't even talk about having powers let alone use them plain-as-day in the middle of breakfast. They were all gone by now, pushed out the door to school about half an hour earlier then necessary to 'simplify' things as the Professor had tactfully put it. Julia couldn't help but agree; her parents would really flip out if they saw even half the things she had that morning.

'I guess it's the sort of thing you just get used to.' she thought to herself while studying her own reflection. 'They aren't afraid. That's what's so amazing to me: These people are not afraid to be mutants, to have powers that make them different, and they want me to join them and stay here.' She knew that the meeting today with her parents was going to be much more then that of a doctor/rescuer returning a victim to her family. The professor had asked her to stay at his school, and he, Jean, and Scott where going to try and convince her parents to let her, should that be her decision. Julia still had no idea. The whole concept was mind-boggling to her. It seemed like every other thought she had told her to stay or go. 'The people here are enormously kind, they've gone so far out of their way to help me and given me so much. But I'm not like them, I am afraid. Look what happened to me, it will always be like this for mutants who don't keep things secret. But they can protect me. But I don't want to need protection.' Her thoughts spun round and round, 'the other kids I met this morning were really great, it might be fun to hang out with them. But I'd be perfectly happy never using my powers again, and besides I'm probably just some charity case to them.' She looked herself straight in the eye, and saw it. She finally realized what was making her face look strange to her. Ever since the 'accident', as she liked to call it, her eyes had been full of fear. She could barely recognize herself. That's why people cringed or avoided eye contact. The bruises had faded but the fear had not, and no amount of make-up or false bravado could cover it up. "Besides," she said out loud, "what kind of person decides to go to a school for mutants?" She tugged self-consciously at the sleeve of the jacket she had put on to cover the bandages on her arm, already knowing the answer and got up to search for Jean, who she hadn't seen all morning.

As it so happened, Scott was looking for Jean as well. He had finished getting ready long ago and had little else better to do other then nervously go over the checklist in his head. As one of the first students to stay at the institute he had done more recruitment meetings then anybody. For the most part, they were all the same and his schpeal never changed. 'Make sure you mention how safe it is.' he reminded himself. 'Safety is key on this one.' Julia's parents would be looking for a way to protect her from coming into harms way again. 'Check with Logan about the security system' he added to his list. He didn't want any problems this morning. He had already gotten the rest of the X-kids out of the way and done a once through of the mansion to make sure everything was in order should they want a tour of the place. He arrived at Jean's bedroom door and let himself in, just in time to see her smile warmly at her reflection in the mirror.

"Hi, I'm Jean Grey". She said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Thanks, but I already know who you are." Scott interrupted, to alert her to his presence.

"Scott!... I didn't hear you come in! I was just ummm... practicing I guess."

"You'll do fine. We've done this millions of times. Don't worry so much about it." He reassured her, happily noting that she hadn't yelled at him for not knocking.

She picked up her hair brush and began pulling it through her long red locks for about the twentieth time that day. "First impressions are important. I just don't want to screw this up." Jean loved the professor and would do anything for him; but deep down inside she truly hated recruiting new members. The pressure of it was almost more then she could take. She always felt like she was being put on display and judged and if her performance wasn't 100% perfect she'd ruin everything. 'If I forget to smile – they'll think we're all mean spirited. Or what if I accidentally say something offensive? What if I don't look professional enough, like were a bunch of kids goofing around with powers here.' The list of ways things could go wrong that Jean could think of was endless. She'd been up all night going over the possibilities. The last two new mutants Jean had helped recruit had decided not to stay, and she had taken it very personally. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even herself really, but each time it happened, Jean considered it a personal failing. In her mind if she had done or said something different she could have changed the outcome, and it was her fault that that person had decided to not become a Xavier student. It wasn't logical but that's Jean.

"You'll do fine." Scott repeated himself, breaking her thought process temporarily. He walked over to where she was sitting and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, while taking the brush out of her hand and setting it on the dresser. The before she had time to protest he pulled her out of the room saying. "You look perfect. It's time to go find Julia. He parents called a little bit ago and should be here in about 10 minutes."

"Then I guess its Showtime."

Scott smiled to himself, it had taken less time then he expected to get Jean ready to go – sometimes when she got into perfectionist mode there was no stopping her. 'Stop Jean from brushing out all of her hair: Check." and the list goes on.

**Whew!, it feels good to finally post this. So, one of the things I've been working on is not letting things hang over my head. Can you believe that I've been feeling guilty about not finishing this story for 7 YEARS! Not all the time, obviously, but often enough. I actually had a lot of half finished projects lying around so at the beginning of the year I gave myself a choice: finish them up or get rid of them. This is the last one, everything else got finished up nicely (or tossed out) over the summer. But this one got stuck in unfinished-business-land. Because I didn't want to publish chapter 6 until I had Chapter 7 done too – the same reason I never posted it in 2005.**

**Well that is never going to happen, my muse is long gone. I'm also learning when to just let things go and not be a perfectionist.**


	7. Loosing Julia

**I couldn't do it. I just couldn't get that close to the end of the story and then just leave it hanging. I started writing this as soon as I posted chapter 6. I literally can't write out the end of the story, I don't know how I would have ended it, I'm a different author now. But I can tell you what I had planned. **

Desecration Chapter 7: Loosing Julia

Julia's parents are overjoyed and relieved to see her and so thankful of the aid she's received from the Xavier Institute. The meeting between Julia, her parents, Professor X, Scott and Jean goes well with only a few awkward moments, but it's cut short when Julia announces that she's already made up her mind and she will not be joining the X-men.

Scott and Jean each take Julia's decision as a personal failure. After Julia and her parents leave, they discuss what they could have done differently. Professor X reminds them that it's not their mission to make every mutant ever join the X-men. They only need to leave a welcoming door open for those that need it, and that's what they were able to do for Julia.

THE END


End file.
